Founding Fathers

Everyone from my barber to the hipster kid down the street who thinks he’s watched “the news” when he catches a clip of The Daily Show on his iPad has a take on the government shutdown and perpetual political stalemate in Washington. Whether they have the faintest understanding of what is actually going on, whether I agree with this or that neighbor’s assessment of the situation, the one thing we can all agree on is that the political and economic landscapes facing us today are lackluster, to say the least.

While reading through a series of essays co-written and edited by Alexander Solzhenitsyn titled From Under the Rubble, I was reminded of an all-too-important factor that one must consider when rendering judgment on his or her duly-elected government: the only change that really matters comes from within.

We’re a nation of more than 300 million people, and to keep insisting that one law here or one election there is going to “fix” things is asinine and a lie even the brightest among us tell themselves.

I hate to say it, but I think conservative activists have become like hometown sports fans who so desperately want their team to win that they see EVERYthing through the lens that shows their team as being the best -- and that therefore sees ANY loss or setback as the result of an unfair third party, like a bad referee, or something.

Exaggerating only slightly for effect, this was Sarah Palin's message last night, except that just written down it doesn't capture the cloyingness of the nasal "all" and the long drawn-out "o" in her "also."

"Well, awl-so-o-o [also] in Alaska, mavericks in Alaska, also, where we produce a lot of oil, also, we know that we've gotta reform Washington, also, you-betcha!"

Sorry, but if the Democratic candidate had put forth this sort of performance, we would all be yelling about how the MSM was giving that candidate a pass on their utter lack of knowledge, depth, specifics, and coherence.

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